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NFL Draft 2025: Former Texas CB Jahdae Barron picked No. 20 overall in Round 1
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Texas’s rich football history in the fall has translated very well to the spring when the NFL comes calling. On Thursday night, the Longhorns saw not one but two players drafted in Green Bay on Day 1 of the 2025 NFL Draft.
With the 20th overall pick, the Denver Broncos selected former Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron.
Barron was a stud for Texas in the secondary, winning the Jim Thorpe Award while helping the Longhorns get within 2 victories of a national championship in his final season in Austin last fall. And Barron wasn’t even the first Texas player picked on Thursday night, with fellow Longhorns standout Kelvin Banks Jr. going 11 picks earlier at No. 9 to help lead the New Orleans Saints’ offensive line.
Banks’ and Barrons’ selections made them the 49th and 50th players all-time to be first-round Texas draft picks. Texas had a whopping 11 players taken in the 2024 draft in Detroit, and the selections of Banks and Barron got it started toward breaking that mark in 2025 in Green Bay.
A Texas 2-step in the first round also marks the second consecutive season the Longhorns have had multiple first-round selections. After going without a first-rounder from 2016-2022, Texas has now produced first-round picks in 3 straight drafts.
Barron boasted a 4.39 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine a few months ago in Indianapolis, and the Broncos believe he can help anchor their secondary for years to come.
He was a beast for seemingly forever for Texas, playing in 57 games over 5 seasons in Austin. Barron piled up 227 tackles, 8 interceptions, 32 passes defended, 2 sacks, a forced fumble, and 3 fumble recoveries during his legendary time at Texas. Last year alone, he had 5 interceptions and 16 passes defended.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
